Fiber is one of the diabetic's best friends. Fiber can help lower blood sugar levels, blood cholesterol levels, and weight, as well as help you feel full with fewer calories and fewer carbs. Here are five things every diabetic needs to know about fiber:
1. Fiber has zero calories and zero carbs. Food labels list fiber as part of total carbohydrate but the carbohydrates in fiber are not digestible. They do not raise blood sugars, and it's OK to subtract grams of fiber from total grams of carbohydrate if you are counting carbs. Diabetics still need to count non-fiber carbohydrates against their totals for each meal and each day.
2. Fiber helps lower post-prandial (after-meal) blood sugar levels. Fiber fills your stomach and slows the release of digested food from your stomach into your intestine. This slows down the release of sugars into your bloodstream so that the pancreas has more time to make insulin to keep blood glucose levels low.
3. Fiber helps you feel full so you don't want to eat sugar. Soluble fiber, found in fruits, vegetables, and oat bran, keeps you feeling full but not bloated or gassy. Soluble fiber, unlike the fiber found in wheat bran, does not cause heartburn.
4. Also, because it keeps you feeling full fiber helps you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. And, as an added bonus:
5. Soluble fiber lowers cholesterol levels. Dozens of studies confirm that eating fiber lowers cholesterol. This is because fiber "catches" excess cholesterol released by your liver and keeps it from re-entering your body.
Diabetics, both type 1 and type 2, should eat at least 20-35 grams of fiber each day, and preferably more. Most diabetics eat less than half that amount, and diabetics who follow high-protein meat-based diets may get almost no fiber at all. The average person should eat between 20-35 grams of fiber each day. Most Americans eat about half that amount.
A study conducted at Southwestern Medical School and published in the New England Journal of Medicine found type 2 diabetics who eat 50 grams of fiber a day... the amount provided by about 12 servings of fruit, vegetables, and whole grain... got these results:
- an average reduction of in all blood sugars (fasting and post-prandial) of about 13 mg/dL (.72 mmol/L),
- an average reduction in total cholesterol of about 6%,
- an average reduction in triglycerides of about 10%, and
- an average reduction in the most dangerous form of cholesterol, very low-density cholesterol, of about 12%, all without insulin or medication. Eating fiber also reduced insulin levels and, since insulin stores fat as well as sugar, lowered weight.
The study at Southwestern Medical School did not use any fiber supplements. Instead, the diabetic participants were encouraged to eat foods rich in soluble fiber, such as oatmeal, oat bran, granola, cantaloupe, grapefruit, orange, papaya, lima beans, raisins, okra, sweet potato, zucchini, and winter squash to achieve high-fiber intake.
The researchers found that half-measures didn't help. Eating just 14 or 15 grams of fiber a day had no effect on blood sugars or cholesterol. Benefits start at about 30 grams of fiber a day, and are greatest at the full 50 grams of fiber provided by 12 daily servings of the foods listed above.
Would you like more information about alternative ways to handle your type 2 diabetes?
To download your free copy of my E-Book, click here now: Answers to Your Questions... its based on questions many diabetics have asked me over recent months.
Beverleigh Piepers is a registered nurse who would like to help you understand how to live easily and happily with your type 2 diabetes.
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